Laguna Local News » Rita Robinsonhttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com
A firebrand Media PublicationTue, 03 Mar 2015 09:02:16 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1Parents Protest ‘Dumbed-Down’ Mathhttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/parents-protest-dumbed-down-math/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/parents-protest-dumbed-down-math/#commentsSat, 28 Feb 2015 09:05:46 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=45005Parents upset about curriculum changes they say dumbs down middle-school math plan a show of force at the next school board meeting on Tuesday, March 10, says an organizer. The parents are upset about the possibility of geometry being eliminated as a separate subject from the eighth-grade curriculum...

]]>Parents upset about curriculum changes they say dumbs down middle-school math plan a show of force at the next school board meeting on Tuesday, March 10, says an organizer.

The parents are upset about the possibility of geometry being eliminated as a separate subject from the eighth-grade curriculum at Thurston Middle School, said local parent David Flores, a retired director of alternative education and interim assistant superintendent for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. They’re also upset, he added, about being excluded from the vetting process.

“Will we show up in large numbers if the district does not give us assurances that the (math) pathway will be amended?” Flores asked. “You bet we will.” Flores said 50 parents are planning to attend.

Eliminating eighth grade geometry will hurt college entrance opportunities for advanced students, he maintains. Flores said his son, a fifth-grader at El Morro Elementary, is studying an online advanced math program from Stanford University.

A hybrid math class is proposed to take geometry’s place at Thurston, said Darlene Messinger, the district’s assistant superintendent of instructional services. The proposal includes some geometry and pre-calculus in eighth-grade Algebra 1, she said.

“We don’t really want to rush kids through math,” Messinger said at an earlier board meeting this month, where math changes were discussed. The changes are expected to give students more time to spend on foundational concepts, problem-solving and real-life application, Messinger said in an interview Tuesday. Final board approval is scheduled for March 10.

Another reason for the changes, she said, is that taking advanced math classes in high school makes the information fresh when students take assessments tests for college entrance. A student finished with math by ninth grade will likely have difficulty remembering the skills by 11th and 12th grades, she said.

According to the proposed changes, geometry will be taught in high school. Pre-calculus will be integrated into algebra 1, geometry and algebra 2, said Messinger. The hybrid high-school classes are expected to make students more competitive for the 11th grade assessment and the latest Standard Assessment Test (SAT), she said. The SAT is now aligned with new state education standards and typically required for college entrance. Colleges now expect applicants to take four consecutive years of math in high school, she said.

Another parent wonders whether “compressing” math in high school is just an attempt to improve college assessment test scores. “If we’re deliberately delaying acceleration in middle school relative to other districts and we’re ending up at the same place in the end, doesn’t that imply we’re compressing their education?” said Amy Hundhausen, an electrical engineer with Broadcom Corp. “High school’s a rough time anyway.” Hundhausen calls careers in math and engineering stable, rewarding and lucrative.

The school district is adopting changes in teaching and curriculum to align with the new California Common Core academic standards, which are required in classrooms this year. Similar standards are being implemented across the country in a bid to improve U.S. business competitiveness in a global market. Instruction will focus on the student’s ability to understand and apply specific math skills, which increases their competiveness in the job market, explained Messinger.

“You do have accelerated math,” argued board member Bill Landsiedel after public comments at the meeting. “It may not be the way you’ve seen it done before but as long as it’s as vigorous as it can be, you end up in the same spot…. There’s nobody on this board who wants to dumb-down math. We will not leave an accelerated kid behind.”

Administrators are ignoring parents’ willingness to participate in the transition process, claimed Flores, who said supporters have been asking for clarification about the curriculum change for a year. “We’ve been stalled and we’ve been given excuse after excuse, which is very disappointing in itself,” he said.

The district hired education expert Patrick Callahan, statewide co-director of the California Mathematics Project, to help math teachers with instruction under the new state standards. Callahan’s premise is that providing a math foundation in middle school enables high school students to better understand more complex math concepts such as algebra, geometry and calculus, said Messinger. Callahan worked with teachers five times over a year and was paid $3,000 a day, she said.

Callahan cited eight studies based on math proficiency of community college students as well as four-year colleges, said Messinger. The data is important because 30 percent of LBHS students attend community colleges, she said.

“The kids we are talking about, we expect are going to end up at four-year colleges and universities,” Flores said. “No offense to community college students at all, but we’re talking about high-performance kids. Dr. Callahan was comparing apples to oranges. By not providing this option for these kids, you’re really hurting them.”

Flores said his group surveyed all Orange County school districts and only one, the Santa Ana Unified School District, is eliminating geometry at the middle school level.

The new math curriculum at Thurston, said Jenny Salberg, the school’s principal, is being geared for students at grade-level as well as advanced learners. Accelerated students can move into upper-grade level math, she said.

Both the grade-level math classes and what is being called accelerated classes, she said, will allow students “the opportunity to get to AP calculus or AP statistics by the time they reach their senior year.”

Salberg said 9 percent of the students at Thurston demonstrate “advanced mathematical maturity” and require an accelerated math course. “They need a pathway as well,” she told the school board. Students already on an advanced math program will not be asked to change their course, said Messinger.

“All paths lead to calculus and statistics; and that was absolutely our intent,” Messinger said at the meeting.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/parents-protest-dumbed-down-math/feed/0Plans Brewing to Beautify Laguna Creekhttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/plans-brewing-to-beautify-laguna-creek/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/plans-brewing-to-beautify-laguna-creek/#commentsTue, 24 Feb 2015 09:28:30 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=44870Often referred to as “the ditch,” Laguna Canyon Creek may soon see its own form of urban renewal. With replanted native vegetation, renewed wildlife habitat, walking trails and improved water quality as a result, an environmental team recently unveiled a plan they hope will make the creek look like ...

A section of Laguna Creek restored by 50 volunteers and city employees in 2006 runs near the Dog Park and the homeless shelter.Photo by Allan Schoenherr.

Often referred to as “the ditch,” Laguna Canyon Creek may soon see its own form of urban renewal.

With replanted native vegetation, renewed wildlife habitat, walking trails and improved water quality as a result, an environmental team recently unveiled a plan they hope will make the creek look like again.

The mostly cement-channeled creek has been misused and abused as it runs from the freshwater Laguna Lakes at the north end of the canyon through homes, businesses and industrial zones along Laguna Canyon Road and out to sea, said Bob Borthwick, co-author of the 19-page report. The creek is also prone to flooding and has sent torrents of mud-filled waters into the downtown during extreme storms.

Over the past 18 months, landscape architect Borthwick and Laguna Canyon Foundation vice president Lance Vallery compiled the report with 22 recommendations on how to restore the creek to a more natural state.

He and Vallery unveiled their plan to “better” the creek in presentations to open-space preservation advocate Laguna Greenbelt last week and to members of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy in December. Their intent is to build support for funding the concepts, which do not involve reconfiguring the creek or its purpose, Borthwick said. “We’re stuck with the flood control measures that are there,” he said. “The plan is to take what we have and make it even better.”

Paying for the improvements will take a village, as Borthwick envisions it, though he didn’t estimate the cost. “I think there’s an untapped resource of just individuals who would be happy to have our front door look better,” Borthwick said. “In a lot of the recommendations, we’re not talking about a whole lot of money involved.”

Each of the creek’s three sections has from six to eight recommended improvements, including tree plantings, upgrading fencing, a “wildlife bridge” and a creek-side trail to downtown, the report says. The recommendations can be accomplished piecemeal by community groups, individuals or grants, said Borthwick.

Laguna Greenbelt is on board, said president Elisabeth Brown. “There are places where it’s incredibly ugly,” said Brown. “Anything that makes the canyon look less like an industrial park and a raceway, I’m in favor of that.”

Borthwick and Vallery also hope to get the city to pitch in financially to restore “a sense” of the creek’s original beauty. They plan to present their project to the City Council soon. “We consider ourselves an environmental community and we’re still back in the ‘50s when it comes to the creek,” Borthwick said. “The purpose is to educate the public that there is an actual creek in Laguna Canyon.”

Borthwick cites the Los Angeles River and San Luis Creek in San Luis Obispo as examples where community consciousness helped reclaim waterways. “It used to be 20 years ago that everybody laughed at any treatment for the L.A. River and people who supported it were just kooky,” Borthwick said.

The city of Los Angeles took on the project of revitalizing the first 32 miles of unsightly cement channels in 2007. The goal, according to Carol Armstrong, director of the Los Angeles River Project, is to raise awareness about the importance of keeping the river clean and “not to use the river as something that divides the communities of Los Angeles but connects them.” Portions of the Los Angeles River now support kayak tours.

Hallie Jones, director of Laguna Canyon Foundation, said her group will do whatever it can to support the creek project. “The community has sort of thought of it as a storm drain rather than a real riparian habitat,” said Jones. “The plan looks at what’s feasible first and doable,” she said. “It’s implementable.”

Borthwick, president of Borthwick Guy Bettenhausen, Inc., a landscape architecture firm in Irvine, said he’s been trying to upgrade the city’s “front door” since the 1990s.

“There is a backpacking motto about leaving a campsite cleaner than you found it,” he said. “I would like for us to leave Laguna Canyon and the creek better than we found it. And by ‘better,’ I mean still rural, still rustic, but less cluttered and even more beautiful.” Borthwick has been hired for several landscaping projects in the city. This project, he said, is gratis.

The report’s recommendations extend to the 405 freeway, covering eight miles, though the creek extends over 5.5 miles, from its headwaters at Laguna Lakes to its terminus at Main Beach.

“Although much of the creek has been channelized, piped and otherwise manipulated by manmade development, at its essence, it is still a natural watercourse,” Borthwick wrote in the report. “Much of the creek is forlorn, but it is not the creek’s fault. It is our lack of action.”

Laguna Canyon Creek is walled by a concrete channel for most of the 2.5 miles between Main Beach and the Dog Park with much of it serving as a receptacle for trash, debris and pollution, according to the report. Borthwick hopes to raise awareness about its importance as a natural resource.

“When people change their perception of the creek to being a creek rather than a ditch or a storm drain, they’ll stop putting things in it that don’t belong in a creek,” he said.

Borthwick credits economics professor, photographer and Laguna Beach resident Ron Chilcote for seeding the idea. At Chilcote’s suggestion, Borthwick received a $5,000 grant from the Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation in June of 2013 to initiate the study.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/plans-brewing-to-beautify-laguna-creek/feed/0Pop Music Plans for Classical Guitaristhttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/pop-music-plans-for-classical-guitarist/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/pop-music-plans-for-classical-guitarist/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 21:17:55 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=44792For the first time in years, classical guitarist and Laguna Beach native Eric Henderson will be playing an electric guitar with a quartet, including a former drummer for world-renowned musician Sting. The concert will take place at 8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 28, in Bridge Hall at Neighborhood Congregati...

For the first time in years, classical guitarist and Laguna Beach native Eric Henderson will be playing an electric guitar with a quartet, including a former drummer for world-renowned musician Sting. The concert will take place at 8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 28, in Bridge Hall at Neighborhood Congregational Church, 340 St. Ann’s Drive.

Under the classical music label Deutsche Gramophone, Henderson is trying his hand with a quartet to test his ability to attract a broader audience to his seemingly effortless yet difficult and passionate arrangements and compositions. He will also play an amplified Spanish guitar.

“I realized that for so many years I was attempting to get the results of sustained notes and phrasing that only an electric guitar could accomplish,” said Henderson. “We decided to record the album ‘Turned Up,’ which would consist of a classical guitar repertoire recorded exclusively on an electric guitar.” Henderson will play new tunes from his most recent album at the Saturday concert.

Henderson plays a highly technical and crowd-pleasing version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Painted Black,” the Chantays’ “Pipeline” and Steve Winwood’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” that have attracted a loyal following for years. Henderson will also play his popular original composition “Flamenco Surf.” “Crowds used to line up around the Marine Room to hear me play 10 years ago,” said Henderson.

Henderson describes his original instrumentals in the style of Gypsy Kings, flamenco, rumba and pop combined with Latin funk. The quartet includes Richie Garcia, percussion, Alan Deremo, bass, and Rob Whitlock, keyboards. Garcia played for Sting, Phil Collins and Elvis Costello, among other major rock groups.

Henderson was stricken with necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria in his right arm more than 10 years ago and was in a coma for nine days. When he awoke, he said his first request was for his guitar to see if he could still play. During his recovery, he learned how to rely more on his left-hand strumming the strings on the neck of the guitar and developed a unique and complicated style of playing. He also arranges and composes his own classical music. Henderson was trained by Andres Segovia in Spain when he was 13 years old.

Tickets for the concert can be purchased at EricHendersonGuitar.com or by calling 800-838-3006. Seats are limited and advance purchase is recommended. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Jumpstart program to assist children who need help preparing to start school.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/pop-music-plans-for-classical-guitarist/feed/2District Explores Putting Meetings Onlinehttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/district-explores-putting-meetings-online/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/district-explores-putting-meetings-online/#commentsThu, 12 Feb 2015 22:15:17 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=44634By Rita Robinson Putting school board meetings online in real time videos was a campaign pitch by school board candidate Dee Perry. Within months of taking office, the newly elected school board member is pressing district staff to make that promise a reality. “I really care about this,” Perry, a re...

Putting school board meetings online in real time videos was a campaign pitch by school board candidate Dee Perry. Within months of taking office, the newly elected school board member is pressing district staff to make that promise a reality.

Then-candidate Dee Perry, center, and her team of supporters.

“I really care about this,” Perry, a retired school teacher, said at a meeting two weeks ago. “The positive aspects of having a video of the school board meetings increase trust in government and transparency.”

At the recent meeting, board member Bill Landsiedel said he was “very negative” about the prospect. “There is a small group of people who will watch, God knows why,” he said. “I watch a city council meeting and I just want to shoot myself.” The most recent audio podcast of Laguna’s school board meeting was available online two weeks after the it occurred.

Landsiedel has since softened his resistance, but still objects to the potential expense and possible abuse by board members using the broader exposure to grandstand on issues. “The money in the school district shouldn’t be spent on the board,” he said. “It should be spent on kids.”

Board member Jan Vickers questioned if broadcasting would actually lengthen the meetings and asked for dollar figures. “I have watched the city council meetings for specific purposes and I’m glad it’s there,” she said. “I find it informative.”

The Laguna Beach City Council’s public meetings, available on cable television and online webcasts, were cited as a good example. “Look at the City Council system; it’s a perfect system,” resident Howard Hills suggested to the board. “The people in this community who fund these schools want to see what’s going on in this school board. Make this process more transparent.”

Cox Communications records the meetings from a manned booth and broadcasts live on a cable channel. The service is provided free as part of Cox’s exclusive cable-television franchise agreement with the city.

Cox lacks a similar arrangement with the school district, said Cox spokeswoman Ceanne Guerra. “We usually look at school districts as a business customer of ours,” she said. School board members asked Supt. Sherine Smith to find out if Cox can offer live-streaming for the school district.

While Cox televises city council meetings for free, the online real-time webcasts and meeting archives are provided under contract with Granicus company for $11,800 annually, said Gavin Curran, the city’s director of finance and information technology. Granicus specializes in webcasting government meetings and provides webcasts of other Laguna Beach city meetings, allowing residents to view the meetings, agendas, minutes and archives on their own computers or cellphones.

Perry said she has researched at least a dozen school districts in the state to determine if they televise or webcast their meetings. The larger nearby Capistrano district, which often serves as a model for Laguna Beach, only posts an audio feed from their meetings, Perry said.

Perry offered to research the costs incurred by other districts to record meetings for online viewing, but Smith said the district staff will do the groundwork. A report is expected at a later meeting, said a district spokesperson.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/district-explores-putting-meetings-online/feed/0Turning the Tide on Poachershttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/turning-tide-poachers/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/turning-tide-poachers/#commentsSun, 08 Feb 2015 09:35:11 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=44532Watching out for poachers, pilferers and polluters isn’t what most people would consider a day at the beach. For Jeremy Frimond, life couldn’t get much better. Frimond, 27, pinned on the badge as Laguna Beach’s marine protection officer in 2013. He works with lifeguards, tide-pool docents and educat...

]]>Watching out for poachers, pilferers and polluters isn’t what most people would consider a day at the beach. For Jeremy Frimond, life couldn’t get much better.

MPO Jeremy Frimond educates Mitch and Stephenie Little of Rancho Santa Fe about the local tide-pool habitat near Main Beach. Photo by Jody Tiongco.

Frimond, 27, pinned on the badge as Laguna Beach’s marine protection officer in 2013. He works with lifeguards, tide-pool docents and educators and watchful locals to ensure that sea life at the seashore remains alive and left alone.

Frimond was born and raised in Laguna and graduated from Laguna Beach High School in 2005. He surfed, snorkeled and practiced water polo every summer for the high school team’s regular season. After that, as a lot of water-polo players here do, he became a summer lifeguard; he wore the red trunks for eight years.

He graduated with a degree in zoology from UC Santa Barbara and was selected for an internship to study great white sharks at the Oceans Research institute in Mossel Bay on the Indian Ocean, which is on what is called the Garden Route in western South Africa, Frimond said.

At the end of his internship, he was asked to come back in a paid position to manage the institution, he said. Part of the job was talking to locals about great whites, letting them know what they were facing. “You’ve got the terrifying great white shark,” Frimond said. “It’s the locals’ ocean as well. There’s shark fatalities down there. They happen. They happened while I was there to people swimming, surfing, just recreating in the ocean.”

He was in South Africa for three years.

On a visit home, a lifeguard told Frimond about the open MPO position and that it was “a sweet gig,” he said. He read the job description and thought the same. He was homesick and interested. He got the job, competing with 100 other applicants. Two others previously filled the job created in 2005, establishing the county’s first marine protection officer position initiated by the nonprofit Laguna Ocean Foundation.

Frimond now watches over the city’s coastline. His primary territory during his 40-hour-a-week beat is Laguna’s nearly seven miles of coastline, most of it designated as a State Marine Reserve, with the highest level of no-take restrictions. The trick to his job, he said, is to know the difference between an offense that requires simply educating the person or citing the person for causing irreparable damage.

Citations are written, says Frimond, when the violation causes “loss of life.”

“Anytime someone has speared or fished anything or killed an animal and it can’t be returned to its environment and go on, that’s egregious,” he said, and warrants a ticket with often a hefty fine, up to $800 for every live animal taken.

“If someone has pulled a single mussel off and they’re very compliant, that would be an education,” he said. “I don’t like it but it would be an education contact. If someone pulls two dozen, three dozen mussels off, that’s egregious.”

The “psychology” behind a citation, Frimond said, is to correct a behavior. “That’s why an enforcement official issues a citation, unfortunately, to correct that behavior the hard way.”

Frimond reports directly to Tom Trager, the city’s marine safety captain. “Jeremy knows the safety aspects of the beach better than anyone we could hope to fill the position,” said Trager. “And he’s pretty personable so people like him.” Trager said his department talks to 20,000 people on the beach a year about ecological concerns. Frimond makes that job easier on the lifeguards, who need to concentrate on people in the water. “He’s our extra set of eyes and can focus on this area 100 percent.”

Besides taking seashells, which need to decompose to remineralize the ocean with calcium carbonate, another top offense, Frimond said, are fishing violations. These include fishing without a license, taking undersize catch, bagging over the limit and night-diving for lobsters.

“The reality is there’s one of me and there’s 40 hours a week,” said Frimond. He depends on “intel,” tips from beachgoers about a potential violation. Regular ocean swimmers have a fish-eye view of what’s going on and call him when something’s amiss, he said.

State marine officers also rely on locals to spot potentially harmful actions. “Most of our calls come from Cal-TIP,” said Ryan Cordero, one of four Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens for Orange County. “It’s the locals who know the lay of the land. They’re very vigilant.”

The most egregious case in Laguna so far, said Cordero, was an illegal catch of 47 lobsters 15 days after new marine areas were designated as protected sanctuaries. The two people responsible were diving after midnight, according to reports. The area below Heisler Park in north Laguna had been closed to fishing and trapping for years prior to the new protections that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2012.

Other than that, Cordero said no one has been malicious about illegal fish-takes. “Compliance is very high,” he said. Most calls concern boats with four to six sport-fishing enthusiasts who are “completely ignorant” about the no-take rules even though they are required to know better by virtue of their fishing licenses, he said.

Frimond said he never imagined working on the other side of a badge but is happy where he landed. “My goal is to always make a living on, in, above, around the water,” said Frimond. “I love the ocean. It’s the great leveler, my dad always says. Just look at the horizon. It’s very peaceful, flat, straight, calm.”

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/turning-tide-poachers/feed/0Schools Approve Tennis Court Improvementshttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/schools-approve-tennis-court-improvements/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/schools-approve-tennis-court-improvements/#commentsWed, 04 Feb 2015 09:05:46 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=44344Following in the steps of the Laguna Beach City Council, improvements to the six tennis courts across from Laguna Beach High School were unanimously approved by the Laguna Beach Unified School Board Tuesday. Repairs are scheduled to begin this summer. Two city council members met with two school boa...

]]>Following in the steps of the Laguna Beach City Council, improvements to the six tennis courts across from Laguna Beach High School were unanimously approved by the Laguna Beach Unified School Board Tuesday. Repairs are scheduled to begin this summer.

Two city council members met with two school board members as well as other city and district officials two weeks ago to iron out differences in plans to upgrade the courts. After years of stalemate, both sides agreed to forego crack-resistant post-tensioned courts. Soils reports stated that conditions under the courts did not find the stabilizing post-tensioned courts essential.

Installing post-tensioned courts would have triggered costly government-mandated improvements and reviews. The courts have been in disrepair since 2008, when plans were initiated and regular city maintenance stopped. The City Council unanimously approved plans last week.

Repairs will include remedying cracks and drainage and adding a new high-grade playing surface, according to the report, as well as lighting, fencing, windscreens, nets, drinking fountain and benches. The total cost is estimated at $620,000, with the city paying $434,000 and the district paying $180,000, as established in a joint-use agreement where costs are apportioned by 70 and 30 percent, respectively.

Repairs will also be made to a cracked retaining wall, considered a separate project and expected to cost $430,000 split between the city and the district. Plans to continue repairs to the community-district swimming pool were also approved.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/schools-approve-tennis-court-improvements/feed/0Measles Become Hot School Subjecthttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/measles-become-hot-school-subject/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/measles-become-hot-school-subject/#commentsFri, 30 Jan 2015 20:02:12 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=44301Even though Orange County has experienced 79 reported cases of measles, the highest number in the state, since an outbreak at Disneyland last month, no one has yet reported contracting the contagious disease in the Laguna Beach Unified School District, state and local health officials said this week...

Parents are rethinking foregoing Immunization in the wake of a measles outbreak last month.

Even though Orange County has experienced 79 reported cases of measles, the highest number in the state, since an outbreak at Disneyland last month, no one has yet reported contracting the contagious disease in the Laguna Beach Unified School District, state and local health officials said this week.

Regardless, some parents say the outbreak is making them uneasy. They’re rethinking decisions to opt out from vaccines and second-guessing taking their children to crowded places. One local doctor’s office, Caduceus Medical Group, is offering free immunizations.

“We are worried about it,” said parent Glenda Kuish. She has one son who is vaccinated and attends El Morro Elementary School and another who is not and attends the private Anneliese’s Schools’ Aliso campus for preschoolers and kindergarteners in south Laguna. The outbreak of the all-but-eradicated childhood disease is an ongoing topic of discussion among mothers of El Morro students, she said Tuesday.

The Annielese Willowbrook campus for preschoolers through sixth-graders in Laguna Canyon was among the schools with the highest rate for unimmunized kindergarteners in the state. Terri Herkimer, executive director of Anneliese’s Schools, on Wednesday disputed the statistics recently compiled by the Los Angeles Times. The data said that the Willowbrook campus was listed at 11.9 percent, which means that five out of 42 kindergarteners there have not been immunized. Herkimer said the statistic is too high.

Of the 225 preschoolers enrolled at the Willowbrook campus, 21 were exempted from the polio, hepatitis or MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) vaccines, while 27 of the 216 grade school students were not immunized for one or all of the childhood vaccines, she said. That combined figure means 12.5 percent of the school’s total enrollment lack immunization.

In Laguna’s public schools, 152 enrolled students have not received one or both doses of the MMR vaccine out of 3,074 total enrollment, amounting to a 4.9 percent non-immunization rate, said district spokeswoman Leisa Winston. Public health statistics say 88 percent of El Morro kindergartners and 98 percent of TOW kindergartners enrolled this school year were vaccinated.

With the measles all but eradicated after widespread vaccinations, known as “herd immunity,” most doctors now practicing in the U.S. have never seen a case of the measles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Herd immunity keeps diseases in check, according to health officials, and is lost when the unimmunized population exceeds 8 percent.

Kuish intends to get her 3-year-old, Landon, immunized and has quashed Aiden’s plan to spend his sixth birthday at Disneyland. “At the moment, it’s no,” she said. Kuish, a native Argentinian, lives in north Laguna with her husband, Bradford, who, she said, isn’t as adamant about immunizations as she is. “Maybe I’m a little paranoid,” she said. “You have to take care of it, there are so many things that can come up.”

Anneliese’s schools follow the same immunization policy as the Laguna Beach school district, promoting immunization as well as a change in the personal beliefs exemption made last year by the California Department of Public Health. To obtain an exemption for vaccinations, parents and guardians are now required to get advice about the benefits and risks of immunizations and the signature of a health care provider. The new form still allows for religious exemption if medical advice or treatment is not the practitioner’s choice.

District students who have not been immunized are not being asked to stay home because there are no reports of measles among the student population, said Winston. If a case of measles does surface, children who lack vaccinations will be sent home, the district informed parents of unimmunized children in a letter, she said.

The measles starts with a fever, cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis (pink eye) that can last up to four days before a rash appears, according to the CDC. Already-infected people are contagious for at least four days after they get the rash. “Measles is transmitted by contact with an infected person through coughing and sneezing,” says a CDC report. Even after an infected person leaves an area, the virus remains alive for up to two hours on surfaces and in the air, the report says.

“This outbreak is a little close to home,” said Christine, a mother of a 2-year-old who lives in Laguna Beach and declined to be identified fully. Christine said she and her husband had decided not to vaccinate their son at birth and have changed their minds since the outbreak.

“He still tends to put things in his mouth and he picks stuff up at parks and we spend a lot of our day there,” she said. “The reason we did not get vaccines when he was born was because we did not know the state of his immune system.”

Christine said she still believes that childhood diseases strengthen the immune system. “When I did my initial research two years ago, there had not been a significant outbreak,” she said. Although she has two friends whose children have had adverse reactions to vaccines, she said, “at this point, in my opinion, the vaccine is not that much of a threat.”

The district’s PTA council also supports immunization. “While some try to frame the current situation in terms of a debate with opinions on both sides being given equal weight, the preponderance of the evidence in terms of good science and sound health practices tells us that we should be empowering parents to choose immunizations,” said Kathleen Fay, president of the Laguna Beach PTA Council.

“Everyone has to do what they think is best for their own child,” said parent Sharael Kolberg, whose sixth-grade daughter, Katelyn, is vaccinated and attends Thurston Middle School. “Even though people are saying ‘Your kid’s going to be exposed to other kids who aren’t immunized,’ I can’t worry about that.”

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/measles-become-hot-school-subject/feed/1Correctionhttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/correction-35/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/correction-35/#commentsFri, 30 Jan 2015 16:02:14 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=44313An article in the Jan. 23 edition about improvements at the high school, “Tennis Courts, Pool Improvements Get Go-Ahead,” incorrectly described the type of landscaping planted and landscape architect Ann Christoph’s relationship to the project. Christoph designed the landscaping plans that did not i...

]]>An article in the Jan. 23 edition about improvements at the high school, “Tennis Courts, Pool Improvements Get Go-Ahead,” incorrectly described the type of landscaping planted and landscape architect Ann Christoph’s relationship to the project. Christoph designed the landscaping plans that did not include sycamore trees, which were installed by contractor Landscape Support Services.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/correction-35/feed/0Tennis Courts, Pool Improvements Get Go-Aheadhttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/tennis-courts-pool-improvements-get-go-ahead/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/tennis-courts-pool-improvements-get-go-ahead/#commentsMon, 26 Jan 2015 09:05:47 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=44051With some residents calling them the “worst tennis courts in Orange County,” plans were given the go-ahead this past Tuesday to refurbish rather than upgrade the Park Avenue courts across from Laguna Beach High School. The decision will cost $620,000 and was made at a joint meeting between the Lagun...

With some residents calling them the “worst tennis courts in Orange County,” plans were given the go-ahead this past Tuesday to refurbish rather than upgrade the Park Avenue courts across from Laguna Beach High School. The decision will cost $620,000 and was made at a joint meeting between the Laguna Beach City Council and Laguna Beach Unified School District board.

Resolving a year of disagreements, the courts will be repaired rather than equipped with post-tensioned slabs that prevent cracking, and the city and the district will split costs 70-30 as previously negotiated. Repairs at the community pool, which is adjacent to the courts and also used by high-school students, were also agreed upon.

Instead of upgrading the tennis courts with a longer-lasting post-tensioned apparatus – triggering requirements that tripled projected costs – the city proposed to sandblast, replace cracked concrete, patch, level and resurface with a premium sealer. The sealer, according to the city report, will reduce cracking and water seepage. The council unanimously approved the plan while the school board will officially vote on both improvement projects at its meeting Tuesday, Jan. 27.

The city and the school district considered post-tensioned construction a year ago. Total costs escalated to $1.36 million because the post-tensioned project is considered “new construction” and triggered costly requirements to reconfigure access for the disabled and a review by the Division of the State Architect.

The city balked at paying for the more expensive upgrade pushed by the district. Last week, the stalemate was resolved with face-to-face talks. School board members agreed to jettison plans for post-tensioned slabs following a presentation of a city soils report showing no conditions at the courts warranted the stabilizing post-tensioned slabs.

Bids on post-tensioned courts, considered higher quality with greater longevity, were sought at the request of members of the public, board member Jan Vickers explained. No one anticipated costs would triple due to unexpected “new construction” requirements, she said.

“We, as a city, have the worst tennis courts in all of Orange County,” said resident Tiana Hamilton, whose children played tennis in competitions at other schools in the county. “I don’t think that’s anything to be proud of.” Hamilton and her husband Paul urged the two governing boards to choose quality. Resident Howard Hills admonished the school district for “never” comparing the high school courts to the quality of courts at schools in other cities.

“The school board should have known what the situation was on the courts, under the courts and around the courts when they did the reconstruction of our facilities,” Hills said, referring to a $39-million bond measure approved by the community in 2001 to modernize district buildings. “This represents gross negligence that this wasn’t done.”

Besides resurfacing playing surfaces, the improvements will also include new LED lighting, refurbished lighting standards, upgraded fencing, windscreens and nets, and a new drinking fountain and viewing benches. “Esthetically, it will be a beautiful facility,” said Ben Siegel, the city’s director of community services, following his report at the meeting.

The courts fell into disrepair and regular maintenance stopped in 2008 when improvements were first contemplated. Problems at the courts now include cracking, poor drainage and buckling resulting from the lack of maintenance rather than structural failures, Siegel reported.

A retaining wall at the courts will also be repaired at an additional cost of $430,000, also split between the city and district.

Pool repairs are expected to be completed by the summer when court repairs will begin. A second community pool is being considered at Lang Park in South Laguna, Mayor Bob Whalen said at the meeting.

Residents also complained about the view-blocking potential of new landscaping along a bluff at the high school. The slope around the high school athletic field and near the baseball dug-out was recently planted with sycamore and eucalyptus trees, among other plants, for an approved cost of $122,000.

Ann Christoph from Landscape Support Services, Inc., brought her already-implemented design for residents to see. Residents said the plans were being kept from them earlier. Christoph said eight eucalyptus and native oaks were planted mainly to shade the dug-out.

“As a person who spent a year on a view-preservation ordinance,” said council member Kelly Boyd, “if these trees grow like these people say they do, I’m really going to be ticked.”

Correction

An article in the Jan. 23 edition about improvements at the high school, “Tennis Courts, Pool Improvements Get Go-Ahead,” incorrectly described the type of landscaping planted and landscape architect Ann Christoph’s relationship to the project. Christoph designed the landscaping plans that did not include sycamore trees, which were installed by contractor Landscape Support Services.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/tennis-courts-pool-improvements-get-go-ahead/feed/1Raising ‘L’ Keeper Revealedhttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/raising-l-keeper-revealed/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/raising-l-keeper-revealed/#commentsSun, 25 Jan 2015 09:22:20 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=44055Dennis Taylor was in eighth grade in 1937. Bushwhacking up a steep hill across from Laguna Beach High School with some buddies on a Saturday morning seemed like a good idea and a small price to pay, despite the bruises, bloody scrapes and the frequent encounter with a ferocious prickly pear or needl...

Gene Herndon, left, and Francis Pillsbury, right, swab the letter “L” overlooking Laguna Beach High School with a fresh coat of white paint last Saturday. Photo by Mitch Ridder

Dennis Taylor was in eighth grade in 1937. Bushwhacking up a steep hill across from Laguna Beach High School with some buddies on a Saturday morning seemed like a good idea and a small price to pay, despite the bruises, bloody scrapes and the frequent encounter with a ferocious prickly pear or needle-nosed yucca leaf.

It wasn’t so much for the glory of climbing the hill and laying some hefty rocks in the shape of a huge “L” for the whole town of 4,500 to regale itself. It was the anticipation, says Taylor, now 90, of taking his favorite girl to the movie theater that afternoon with free tickets, the reward for raising the “L” and keeping it in good shape.

Taylor and his friends would climb the hill only on sunny, warm days, much like last Saturday. Fifteen volunteers, mostly Laguna natives, joined Taylor at the view park on Pacific Street to trek uphill and give the “L” some TLC. “There were no houses around here,” Taylor recalled of those early years as he adroitly made his way down the hill, looking dapper in his straw hat, gloves and paint roller at the ready.

Over the years, only a small number of residents have kept the “L” up. Saturday’s group, who keep their eye on the Facebook page “You’re a Laguna native if…”, responded to a posted appeal to give the “L” a literal white-washing.

The brainchild behind using social media to get the attention of locals came from Lisa Black, Taylor’s daughter. She hopes that keeping up the “L” will become a town tradition. The task at hand was to cover over black stripes recently painted by vandals that had streaked into a spin-art mess from the recent rain.

Taylor doesn’t remember whose idea it was to raise the “L” in the first place,

Dennis Taylor on the march to repair the local landmark. Photo by Carrie Reynolds

kids never do. He does remember that one of the guys, Bob Vincent, had a brother who managed the movie theater across from Main Beach on the two-lane Coast Highway and gave them the tickets. “We didn’t have a dime to spend back then,” he said.

The “L” on the hill has seen its share of indignities, said Taylor. It was nearly destroyed two years ago when he found the canvas shredded and splattered with paint. There have been friendlier pranks, he said, when rival schools used to change the “L” to letters like “T” for Tustin or “B” for Brea.

As an end-of-year prank, seniors often moved the rocks around, rearranging them to the year of their graduating class. “We changed it for the Class of ’85,” Michael Sadler safely admitted now, watching his son Enzo, 13, roll on some paint.

Enzo was one of three boys there who are part of the 10 Boys Who Care community service group from Thurston Middle School. “It’s a good opportunity to give back to the community,” said Enzo. “How often do you get a chance to do something like this?” added Francis Pillsbury, 13, painting alongside Noah Linder, 13, and Sam Reynolds, 14.

The boys, said Carrie Reynolds, Sam’s mom, are taking on the “L” as a community service project until they’re through high school.

As to why there’s only an “L” and not an “LB”, Taylor said making one letter with small boulders was difficult enough. “Trying to make a “B” or anything else,” he said, was more grit than they wanted to handle.

To get to the “L”, volunteers took the path to the view park at the end of Pacific Street, then traversed down the rocky hill, prickly pear still looming, to the local icon. Black recruited her son, Daniel, to help.

“I do it to help out my grandpa,” said Daniel, now 16. Daniel was 10 the first time he encountered the “L”.

Taylor figured he’s helped repair and refurbish the “L” at least 50 times over the last 75-plus years, including a new canvas six months ago.

Taylor moved to Laguna Beach from Canada with his mother when he was 6. She was a waitress and her husband a merchant marine, who wasn’t around much, Taylor said.

When Taylor graduated from high school, his mother gave him a suitcase as a gift with a message. He packed the suitcase and moved to San Francisco, where his sister lived. “My mother didn’t want me to stay in Laguna and become a beach bum,” he said. He joined the Army for two years but returned to Laguna to do just that. He lived on a government stipend for returning soldiers of $10 a week for 52 weeks, he said, adding that $10 post-WWII went a long way.

Despite his mother’s admonition, he spent a lot of time on the beach with his friends, but eventually worked for an airline cargo company and an insurer and exhibiting animal photography at the Sawdust Festival. The pet portraits morphed into a greeting card maker, Inkadink Inc., which he closed when it wasn’t fun anymore. He still has boxes of greeting cards stored in his garage.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/raising-l-keeper-revealed/feed/1Ocean Animal Rescues on Risehttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/ocean-animal-rescues-rise/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/ocean-animal-rescues-rise/#commentsMon, 19 Jan 2015 09:05:48 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=43973By Rita Robinson | LB Indy With already 14 sea lions rescued in the first 13 days of January, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Canyon is gearing up for another record year in rescues, says an announcement by the center. Last year, there were only two rescues during this time. The resc...

With already 14 sea lions rescued in the first 13 days of January, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Canyon is gearing up for another record year in rescues, says an announcement by the center. Last year, there were only two rescues during this time.

The rescued sea lions are emaciated and dehydrated and most are pups, said spokeswoman Michele Hunter. Their condition is similar to that of two years ago when the center rescued more than 200 starving pups. The rehabilitation facility on Laguna Canyon Road was filled to capacity, leading federal wildlife regulators to declare an “unusual mortality event.”

So far, there have been fewer rescues this month than in January of that year, Hunter said.

Professionals from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service are collaborating with PMMC animal care specialists as well as other scientists along California’s coastline to determine possible causes, says the statement. Initial speculation is that the pups lack food due to an El Nino weather pattern that creates warmer water, which moves fish to cooler waters, the center’s statement says.

Sea Lion pups

Marine mammals that feed on fish, such as seals and sea lions, may be affected. Marine biologists speculate that sea lion mothers are swimming farther to find food, prematurely separating from their pups when they are foraging. Mothers may not be sustaining enough nutrients to maintain their milk supply, causing the pups to be forced to wean much earlier, the report added. Speculation continues as to why there has been such a marked increase in marine mammal strandings.

“There is also an increase in parasite infestations in the rescued sea lions,” said Kirsten Sedlick, the center’s animal care supervisor. The majority are pups or yearlings, animals too young to yet understand the dangers of the oceans and do not have a fully developed immune system to fight off more severe infections.

According to NOAA’s El Niño Portal, there is an approximate 50 to 60 percent chance of El Niño conditions during the next two months.

Each year, PMMC treats from 200 to 300 marine mammals in need of medical attention, according to the center. Most of the center’s patients suffer from malnutrition or illness such as pneumonia.

Sea lion rescues are again on the rise as is the patient load at the Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Canyon.

So far this year, PMMC has also seen an increase in adult sea lion rescues needing medical care. “We are concerned and preparing for another very busy season,” executive director Keith Matassa said in the statement.

The center, which depends on donations to pay for food, medicine, staff and transportation, is the only organization in the county licensed to rescue and rehabilitate marine mammals.

If the public sees a stranded sea lion, call the PMMC Rescue team at (949) 494-3050. Don’t approach or feed the animal, but if possible, center staff asks that a photo be sent so they can make an informal assessment.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/ocean-animal-rescues-rise/feed/2Dispute Over Courts Closer to End Gamehttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/dispute-courts-closer-end-game/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/dispute-courts-closer-end-game/#commentsSat, 17 Jan 2015 09:06:35 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=43963By Rita Robinson | LB Indy A cordial handshake over a solution was finally reached this past Tuesday, Jan. 13, on the contested repair of the highly used high school tennis courts, according to reports from both sides. Years of dispute over how to repair cracked and buckled tennis courts at the...

A cordial handshake over a solution was finally reached this past Tuesday, Jan. 13, on the contested repair of the highly used high school tennis courts, according to reports from both sides.

Years of dispute over how to repair cracked and buckled tennis courts at the high school culminated recently when city officials decided to quit volleying back and forth and instead negotiate face-to-face with school district officials.

“There was information we didn’t have,” said school board president Ketta Brown on Wednesday. “It’s not that the city was withholding it, we just didn’t know.”

The dispute concerns escalating costs of repairing the courts. The district asked the city to contribute 70 percent of the cost of the $1.8 million upgrade, a percentage that was agreed upon in an earlier negotiated joint-use agreement. The city refused to contribute more than the $435,000 it agreed to in 2013 when the repair estimate was $620,000. The city initially agreed to foot 70 percent of the costs because the courts are well-used by the non-student community, according to reports. Costs escalated due to unanticipHYPERLINK “http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/love-match-court-upgrade/”aHYPERLINK “http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/love-match-court-upgrade/”ted expenses. Proposed post-tension construction forced the project into a “new construction” category that required including access for disabled people and undergoing state review.

Ben Siegel, the city’s director of community services, said it looks like both sides are happy now and the matter will most likely reach a consensus at a joint meeting between the school board and the City Council at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the Council Chambers. Details will be released at that meeting. The council is scheduled to vote on the court repair solution at its meeting, which follows at 6 p.m. The district is expected to make its final decision at its regular meeting a week later.

Siegel presented the new information to school district officials during the closed session meeting this week, Brown said.

Earlier in the month, Siegel told the City Council that the type of soil under the courts did not require post-tension slabs, designed to minimize cracking if soils shift or during extreme temperature changes. One court at the high school is already fitted with post-tension construction.

“We had a productive meeting and discussed a couple of options,” said Mayor Bob Whalen, who declined to discuss the details of the meeting until a final decision is made by both the council and the district. A staff report was to be available by Thursday, Jan. 15.

Whalen, council member Rob Zur Schmiede and Siegel met with school board members Brown and Jan Vickers, two school administrators and Superintendent Sherine Smith.

Both sides had already agreed to upgrades in 2008 and routine maintenance on the courts stopped. Most of the city courts are routinely maintained and regularly resurfaced and leveled at much lower costs, Siegel said earlier. “The whole point is not to spend $1.8 million,” said Brown, who expects the new plan to cost less after new bids are received. “We feel good about it and they feel the same way,” said Brown, who also did not discuss specifics.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/dispute-courts-closer-end-game/feed/1Laguna Steps Up the Pace for Safer Streetshttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/laguna-steps-pace-safer-streets/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/laguna-steps-pace-safer-streets/#commentsSun, 11 Jan 2015 09:29:54 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=43824By Rita Robinson | LB Indy Tragedy is often the catalyst for official action to an obvious problem. And grant money helps, too. Local advocates have pushed for safer passage for cyclists and pedestrians in Laguna Beach for years. With funding now available, the city government is adding its mom...

Tragedy is often the catalyst for official action to an obvious problem. And grant money helps, too.

A van driver fails to give local cyclist Brett Howser the three-foot buffer now required by law despite his own efforts to alert drivers to his presence. Photo by Mitch Ridder.

Local advocates have pushed for safer passage for cyclists and pedestrians in Laguna Beach for years. With funding now available, the city government is adding its momentum to the cause while redefining how to get around in a century-old town trying to accommodate ever-increasing traffic.

Among the steps underway are flashing message boards placed in strategic highway spots, issuing more citations to texting drivers, public education pamphlets and bike route alternatives to Coast Highway.

Laguna isn’t alone in taking an interest in providing safer accommodation for pedestrians and bicyclists. The Orange County Transit Authority completed two-thirds of a planned 66-mile countywide bike corridor, which will next push into south Orange County and through Laguna Beach, Assistant City Manager Christa Johnson told the City Council last month. The corridor will attempt to make passage safer for bike tours. The city is being asked for its input on the particular route.

OCTA also plans to improve state Highway 1 through the entire county, Johnson said during the presentation about the street safety improvements. OCTA won’t insist on a bike route on Coast Highway here, Steve May, the city’s public work’s director, assured the council. The north-south bike route the city established, which parallels Coast Highway on secondary roads, will be the recommended route, City Manager John Pietig added. The route, initiated and outlined by local bicycle activists, became official last fall.

Caltrans, which manages state highways, is seeking input from local cities as well on how to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety. Laguna Beach tops its most dangerous list, said Johnson. That ranking gets attention when competing for funds with other cities, she said in a later interview.

Bicyclist Brett Howser made it his mission to bring the dangers of texting while driving to City Council members last October. He rides his bike to work nearly every day along Laguna Canyon and El Toro roads. He wears a lime-green helmet and a pink backpack with large black letters stating “Don’t Text and Drive.”

“I’m flashing like ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ because I want people to see me and not hit me,” said Howser, referencing an award-winning Australian movie. Howser moved here from England where he said police stridently enforce driving laws regarding cell phone use, whether it’s texting or talking.

“I feel like I’m a one-man crusade out there and I’m not very polite,” Howser said. “When I see people on their phones as they drive by me, I’m generally horrendously obnoxious to them. I scream at them: ‘Get off your phone.’”

Late last year, the police department began several changes to attempt to reduce bicyclist and pedestrian accidents and improve crosswalk safety. The changes, said retiring Police Chief Paul Workman, were propelled by the deaths and serious injuries occurring with cyclists and pedestrians on roads leading through Laguna Beach.

Two digital message boards purchased by the city were initially placed along Laguna Canyon Road, telling motorists to give bicyclists three feet of leeway and not to text and drive. The road marquees will be moved periodically, Workman said, and were recently alerting motorists along North Coast Highway near Emerald Bay. And Caltrans sped up installing a pedestrian-activated signal to halt traffic across Laguna Canyon Road at the Laguna College of Art and Design after student Nina Fitzpatrick was hit by a car at the crossing and died last April.

More than 75 tickets, primarily for using cell phones while driving, have been issued in the last two months, Workman said during the overview to council members.

The tickets are part of an enforcement campaign funded by a $107,519 grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety, police Lt. Jeff Calvert said later. The funds allow personnel to enforce traffic safety laws. About $7,500 of that total is specifically earmarked to crack down on motorists talking and texting on cell phones while driving. Another $4,400 will be used to ticket motorists that don’t stop for pedestrians and run stop signs.

As a cyclist, Howser knows safety is not entirely the responsibility of government. “Be visible. I still see people in their asphalt camouflage, all-black outfits, riding along Coast Highway with no lights. They just blend in,” he said.

Last year, two pedestrians and a cyclist died in Laguna Beach as a result of collisions with cars and another 28 pedestrians were injured. The number of accidents is significantly higher than in 2012, according to police statistics. Then, with one fatality and 19 accidents involving cars and pedestrians, Laguna was labeled as the most dangerous of 109 cities of comparable size in the state, according to an Office of Traffic Safety ranking, the most recent figures available.

The ranking is based on population and isn’t adjusted to reflect the huge influx of visitors on Laguna’s roadways, said Calvert, who is pushing Caltrans to paint warnings in crosswalks or on curbs along Coast Highway, modeled after the “Yield to Life, Look Both Ways” campaign in Atlantic Beach, Fla.

“When pedestrians are stepping off into the crosswalk, they feel like there’s this invisible barrier around them that’s going to stop vehicles, which is not the case,” he said. When looking down at cell phones at the curb or in the crosswalk, pedestrians may soon see the word “LOOK” with arrows pointing both ways, an attempt to alert them to watch for traffic. “This is going to take a universal effort to reduce pedestrian collisions on the highway throughout the city,” he said.

Local cycling activists Chris Prelitz, Billy Fried, Max Isles and Tamara Havalla were consulted four times last year by city planners, helping outline the path for an alternate north-south route to Coast Highway, locations for needed bike racks and public education.

Safety pamphlets for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists will be passed out at intersections by city employees and more police officers will be enforcing the rules Workman said.

This month, the police department will conduct the first of eight crosswalk enforcement exercises; the department used to conduct two a year. Police employees will wear green reflective vests in crosswalks to see if motorists stop.

The city also completed a draft plan for “complete streets,” an outline for making roads pedestrian, bicycle and mass-transit friendly citywide, he said. The final plan will be reviewed in February.

The Laguna Canyon Task Force, a committee of 18 residents studying possible improvements to Laguna Canyon Road for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and mass transit, will present their findings in late spring or early summer, said Johnson.

Photo by Mitch Ridder

A van driver fails to give local cyclist Brett Howser the three-foot buffer now required by law despite his own efforts to alert drivers to his presence.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/laguna-steps-pace-safer-streets/feed/1City Stops Volleying in Tennis Court Disputehttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/lbhs-tennis-court-repair/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/lbhs-tennis-court-repair/#commentsSat, 10 Jan 2015 09:56:59 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=43816 Emphasizing that the benefits do not justify the expense, the Laguna Beach City Council benched a request to pay for the majority of a $1.8-million upgrade to the high school tennis courts Tuesday. Instead, council members unanimously voted to try a new approach, negotiate in person. The city...

Emphasizing that the benefits do not justify the expense, the Laguna Beach City Council benched a request to pay for the majority of a $1.8-million upgrade to the high school tennis courts Tuesday. Instead, council members unanimously voted to try a new approach, negotiate in person.

The city and the Laguna Beach Unified School District share a 70-30 split respectively on repair and maintenance costs of the six courts under a joint-use agreement. That agreement may soon change.

Mayor Bob Whalen and council member Robert Zur Schmiede were unanimously appointed to iron out differences over court repair costs with district officials. Negotiations about payment have been volleyed back and forth for years, primarily through emails and letters, Zur Schmiede said at the meeting. If the district insists on installing the more expensive upgrades, council members curtly suggested that Whalen and Zur Schmiede ask the district to pay the higher percentage rather than the city.

The school district requested that the city contribute 70 percent or $1.26 million to equip the district-owned courts with stabilizing and long-lasting post-tension slabs, an increase for the city of $825,000 over a previous agreement, according to a report to the council by Ben Siegel, the city’s director of community services. The district’s contribution would be $540,000.

The council endorsed the district’s plan a year ago and the city agreed to pay 70 percent of $620,000 to upgrade the surface of the courts. The city’s portion amounted to $435,000, Siegel said, before costs escalated due to unanticipated expenses.

The upgrade to post-tension courts catapults the project into a “new construction” category, which requires the added costs of reconfigured access for the disabled and review by a state architect. Refurbishing, the report states, avoids both expenses and brings the courts up to the playable standards of the 12 city-owned tennis courts.

“Every other district around us plays on courts that are post-tension,” said school board president Ketta Brown in an interview Wednesday. “That’s just the standard now. As a district, we’re trying to keep up with the times and keep up with technology and keep up the best we can.”

Council member Steve Dicterow initiated the turn-about in the council’s position by suggesting face-to-face talks with school district officials. “We’ve been put in a position where we’re talking about it in isolation,” said Dicterow. “I’m not sure this process is the right way to go.” Zur Schmiede suggested a meeting with district officials before the city makes its final decision on Jan. 20. The meeting will take place next week, he said Wednesday.

Siegel’s staff report questioned the necessity of post-tension courts for the community’s needs. The compression-style post-tension slabs can be adjusted if soil settles or shifts or during extreme temperature changes so that the concrete does not crack or buckle. The city estimated the cost of resurfacing the six high school courts at $300,000.

Three court-resurfacing contractors were consulted by the city and none found evidence of the type of soil or geological conditions under the high school courts that require post-tension construction, the report says. “In fact, an August 2013 district report indicates that refurbishment of the courts with existing materials would be both adequate and cost effective,” the report stated.

Council members Toni Iseman and Kelly Boyd adamantly opposed paying more with Iseman suggesting the flip in percentages.

“We’re representing a lot of people in this community and I just feel it was an extortion,” she said, comparing the scenario to past upgrades to the high school theater where costs were also shared. “And it’s unhealthy because we have an unsafe situation. I don’t want a 70-30 split coming back here.”

She said the high school courts are dangerous and pushed for immediate resurfacing while negotiating post-tension courts later. “If they want post-tension, we have three years to negotiate,” she said, referring to the city’s routine resurfacing schedule. Boyd called the increasingly high cost to the city “ridiculous.”

The 70-30 cost split is based on the community’s higher use of the courts, Dean West, the district’s assistant superintendent of business services, said Wednesday. “It would be up to the board to change that split,” he said.

Brown welcomes the in-person discussion, and maintained that the community is demanding the upgrade. “We’ve been hammered by people who live in Laguna Beach,” she said. “The courts are used more by the public than by our students. It’s not like our kids are saying we won’t play on your piece-of-crap courts.”

Resident and parent Paul Hamilton echoed Brown’s position at Tuesday’s meeting. “You go to any other school in Orange County and they have beautiful courts that have proper drainage, that are flat and the community’s proud of them,” Hamilton said. “And you come to our courts here and the balls are rolling out on the street underneath the fence, the fence is falling down, it’s rusty. It’s a complete embarrassment.”

The council is scheduled to make its final decision Jan. 20.

Last year, the city agreed to a district proposed plan to install post-tension slabs at a total cost of $620,000 even though the cost was higher than a previously agreed-upon expenditure.

It’s not that the city doesn’t think the courts need to be repaired, said Siegel. The high school courts fell off a regular maintenance schedule after they were resurfaced in 2008 and post-tension upgrades were first discussed, he reported. Cracks, poor drainage, crumbling retaining walls, torn and outdated fencing and substandard lighting all need attention, he said, and the city should provide its 70 percent share. The upgrade also includes repairing a retaining wall for $440,000, for which the city is willing to pay its share, he said.

Standard renovation and repairs are expected to take two months, starting this summer, Seigel said, while installing post-tension courts would take four months.

]]>http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/lbhs-tennis-court-repair/feed/2Dressler to Take His Last Bowhttp://www.lagunabeachindy.com/dressler-take-last-bow/
http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/dressler-take-last-bow/#commentsSat, 27 Dec 2014 09:52:45 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=43490By Rita Robinson Across the now dark and empty high school quad, the song, “A Lot of Livin’ to Do,” wafts through the breezeway. More than 50 sweaty and chatty students are spending their Monday evening letting elbows and knees fly in an audition for Laguna Beach High School’s spring production of “...

Across the now dark and empty high school quad, the song, “A Lot of Livin’ to Do,” wafts through the breezeway. More than 50 sweaty and chatty students are spending their Monday evening letting elbows and knees fly in an audition for Laguna Beach High School’s spring production of “Bye Bye Birdie” in the Artists’ Theatre.

“Performance matters,” actor Erika Whalen Schindele, an LBHS graduate and the show’s choreographer, tells the hopeful actors. “This is not a ballet. Get goofy. They had fun when they danced back then.”

From the sidelines, Mark Dressler, the high school’s 20-year drama teacher, reiterates the point in age-appropriate terms. “I can’t have zombies on stage.”

This will be Dressler’s third production of “Bye Bye Birdie,” and likely his last. He plans to retire at the end of the school year. His final performance will appropriately be “You Can’t Take It with You.”

Dressler knows that big productions produce big ticket sales. With about 100 students participating in “Bye Bye Birdie” on set, in the orchestra pit and behind the scenes, it will be the biggest production of Dressler’s career. He expects ticket sales to cover 80 percent of the show’s $50,000 production costs.

“The spring musical is a special event where my emphasis is to put as many kids in the show as I possibly can,” he said. “I’m much like a Broadway producer. I generate the funds that run the program by doing the show.”

With community financial support and enthusiastic volunteer backing, Dressler has transformed the drama department into one of the school’s most popular programs, has produced a coterie of graduates succeeding in show business and introduced a generation of students to live theater.

When Dressler was hired in 1990 to teach history and English at Thurston Middle School, he noticed that the high school’s theater had slipped into disrepair. “It smelled,” he recalled. “There was mold growing on the walls.” A lowered acoustic-tile ceiling masked the original ceiling, which was high enough for sound resonance and wide enough for catwalks and professional lighting. He asked administrators to amp up the performing arts curriculum and revamp the theater, and to let him teach drama.

When Dressler held the first audition for his first production, “Grease,” in 1992, not one student heeded the call. “I had to beg and then the next day three girls showed up,” he said. A friend told him about three guys in a garage band, so he asked them to act as well as play the music.

“We ran it for three nights and absolutely sold out,” he said. “The community was so hungry for high-school theater. All of a sudden there was a big interest to support this fledgling drama program.”

The interest paid off. The community pitched in $1.5 million to fix up the theater. In 2001, a voter-approved bond measure to modernize district buildings added more theater improvements, including opening up the orchestra pit.

“It just happened. It just grew,” he said. “I wanted to be an actor, but I was unsuccessful. I tell students to try something, just try it. Failures can lead to success.”

He has produced more than 75 productions and built a respected reputation for the high school’s Park Avenue Players. He teaches four periods of drama at Thurston and three at the high school, more classes than the typical teacher. And his pay reflects that. He’s the highest paid teacher in the district, with an income that tops school principals and most administrators at $208,982.56 including benefits. He plans to retire now, at 61, to take advantage of an infrequent retirement incentive that kicks teachers into a higher pension bracket.

Dressler wants to surf, golf and travel more as well as guest-produce and direct elsewhere. “I’m going to be a retired guy who enjoys his life,” he said.

Before LBHS, Dressler taught for four years at Dana Hills High School, and gave that up for some professional acting gigs. He kept afloat financially by substitute teaching in Long Beach, including filling in for a teacher who taught drama and had to take a medical leave. Dressler took her classes. His first production was an original play the class collaborated on about a student’s suicide.

As an adventure, he and his wife, Penny, were hired to teach in Turkey. He directed the drama department at the American Collegiate Institute in İzmir. After two years there, Penny got pregnant, so they headed back to the U.S. They have two sons, Max, 24, and Luke, 22.

Looking around the high school theater’s costume department earlier this week, Dressler said, “This is me; this is every show I’ve done in 20 years,” as he surveyed hundreds of costumes sewn mostly by a covey of “drama mamas” and props made by parent volunteers.

The basement remains the domain of Angela Irish, the department’s costume mistress, whose son, Michael, now 33, started acting with Dressler. He works in theater in New York. “Of course, you do what your kids do, and I got sucked into it at the high school,” said Irish, a retired Top of the World teacher. “It’s been a fun ride.”

And there have been some dips. “Urinetown,” a political satire and Broadway hit about society devolving to where people have to pay to pee, was a first-class production that was not well attended. “It’s too bad people don’t take a chance on edgier, unknown titles; there’s so many things that are so fantastic out there,” Dressler said.

Schindele, one of several Dressler students succeeding as a thespian, is now in her fourth year as Belle, Scrooge’s fiancée that got away, in South Coast Repertory’s production of “A Christmas Carol.” Her favorite memory of Dressler’s middle-school classes was going to see the magic that transpires on stage.

Other than ticket sales, financial support for the department comes from the Festival of Arts and Schoolpower, which raises funds to supplement school programs. Their support allowed Dressler to improve the productions by hiring professionals and, at times, renting sets and lighting packages.

Often referred to among students and peers as a local legend, Dressler said his successor will need to know how to produce “really big pieces of theater.”

“More importantly, it’s leading a program inspiring kids to be excellent and inspiring parents to help out and find the joy in making their kids look spectacular on stage,” he said.